I'm really not doing business

Chapter 525: Those were all done by the Japanese in the past and have nothing to do with the current Japanese!

Guo Zhengmao was very active in transforming Luzon into a king, covering all aspects of military, economic, cultural, and political affairs. He wished that the imperial court would immediately give the Luzon Governor's Palace to Shitu County. Similar to the Yunnan Three Divisions, Guo Zhengmao was walking in the The front of the four overseas governor's offices.

The Nagasaki Governor-General's Office was preparing to transport silver taels back to the capital in order to show his loyalty to the emperor and the country.

The Ming Dynasty was struggling in the Japanese country just for the silver of the Japanese country, to raise children and provide for old age. Since the Yongle period when the Muromachi shogunate was enthroned, wasn't it just for this day!

The Ming Dynasty is more than two hundred years old. The Ming Dynasty is old, has inconvenient legs and feet, and is very poor. Treatment of diseases requires a lot of silver, and the Japanese country happens to have it. If they don't use it, is it worthy of the canonization edict of Emperor Cheng Zuwen?

At the beginning, the Muromachi shogunate was struggling in the Japanese country. It was Emperor Wen's edict that allowed the Muromachi shogunate to gain a firm foothold and made the Japanese country stable for more than a hundred years.

Even if the Japanese country is a rebellious son, it can still raise children to provide for old age!
Japanese silver is the second largest source of white silver in China. The first largest source is the trade of European and Western galleons that arrive in Hong Kong around June every year.

Oda Nobunaga's struggle seemed somewhat futile, because the Ming Dynasty was carrying out reforms and its navy was very powerful, leaving Oda Nobunaga, the ruler of the world, with no good solution.

When Sun Keyi and Xu Wei were preparing to transport silver back to Beijing, Oda Nobunaga's envoy arrived in Nagasaki again. A very small ship docked at the berth, forming a sharp contrast with the three-masted and five-masted ships of the Ming Dynasty. The comparison is just like the Ming Dynasty and the Japanese state at that time.

The Songjiang Navy of the Ming Dynasty, Shuri Hou Chenlin, was leading the navy to quell the Japanese in the Japanese country, so there were particularly many large ships in Nagasaki Port.

However, the policy against Japan alone is completely inconsistent with the basic rule that cooperation will benefit both countries, because the overall goal of the policy against Japan has always been to eliminate Japan, and it has never changed.

The Ming Dynasty Navy's pacification of Japanese pirates in Nagasaki was mainly to prevent imported pirates.

"If you don't become a domestic dog, how can you become a wild dog?" Xu Wei immediately asked: "Is it good to be a wild dog when you are hungry and precarious? What happened to the Nagasaki Governor's Palace being a domestic dog of the Ming Dynasty?"

Xu Wei nodded and said: "They are all the same."

The entire West Flower Hall of the Governor's Mansion was filled with laughter. The Japanese did not even apologize for the Japanese troubles, let alone regret and pay homage.

According to the diplomatic views of the Ming Dynasty's Rouyuan people, what the Ming Dynasty should do at this time is to accept the surrender of Oda Nobunaga, and mobilize some resources to find a way to transport food to the Japanese country in exchange for silver and help Oda at the same time. The shogunate resettled the desperate Japanese, restored production, reduced the sources of Japanese trouble, and finally stabilized the sea frontier.

"We also hope to see a Japanese country with extraordinary achievements, freedom and openness, and a prosperous life. This is of great significance to the stability of Ming Dynasty's maritime borders. We also hope to work with Oda Nobunaga for a peaceful and prosperous maritime border. Work together.”

"It's all corpses that are beyond recognition!"

"Oda Nobuo, think about it, is there any difference between putting silver in Nagasaki and putting it in Ming Dynasty? If necessary, it only takes three to five days for the sailboat to pull it back. The ship is so fast now." Sun Keyi He also said in response, he played an impeccable card. Since you chose to mess around, there is no need for Sun Keyi to hide it. Show your cards, I am a scholar of the Ming Dynasty!

"You beg me, and I will agree to it?" Xu Wei smiled, looked in the direction of the Ming Dynasty, smiled miserably and asked: "I have been plagued by Japanese pirates in the southeast of the Ming Dynasty for more than 30 years. How many people along the coast are kneeling on the ground? I begged and begged the Japanese pirates to spare their lives. Did the Japanese pirates agree? The Japanese pirates laughed and killed more people, and who killed them more ruthlessly!"

This is the condition that Oda Nobunaga sent Oda Nobuo to negotiate. The Nagasaki Governor's Palace and Oda Nobunaga cooperated to seek greater private interests. Does loyalty to the Ming Dynasty have any benefit to Xu Wei and Sun Keyi? If loyalty to the emperor and the country can really be rewarded, will there be so many people who respect themselves?

"Hahaha!" Xu Wei and Sun Keyi looked at each other and burst out laughing. The two of them held on to the armrests of the Taishi chair, leaned forward, and laughed loudly and wantonly, until they couldn't breathe. .

This is acceptable to everyone in the Japanese country, because the silver is kept in the Nagasaki Governor's Mansion. The popular treasure banknotes in the Japanese country are silver-based banknotes. Although there is a price for the population, there is still something to be paid for. The harvest paid for the population and solved part of the problem of money shortage.

At the end of the tenth year of Wanli, the Japanese country had a population of 850 million. The real population was too large and the territory was small. Coupled with the wars between the warring states daimyo, production was destroyed and food production was further reduced. This forced many Japanese to take desperate risks and go to sea to become Japanese pirates. , in the storm, to rob others for a living.

The main one is shameless.

Oda Nobuo's forehead was covered with sweat. He suddenly had an idea and said loudly: "Those were all done by the Japanese in the past and have nothing to do with the current Japanese!"

"It's not necessary." Nobuo Oda bowed again and said loudly and obediently: "I'm just begging the angels! Leave the silver in Japan!"

"Thanks to the angel's teachings!" Oda Nobuo bowed again. He knew why the Nagasaki Governor's Palace was now shipping silver. It was because no one dared to act rashly while the navy's strong troops were on the side.

Xu Wei's words can be said to make him fall out of favor faster than turning the page of a book. It is obvious that the former scolding Nobuo Oda was Xu Wei's true thought, and the latter was a cliché of Che Luulu. The overall meaning is that this is what the Japanese silver wants to do, and it is to be transported back. , this is all for the good of Japan!

It was Nobuo Oda who was the first to be shameless and talk nonsense. No one else would be the same.

Oda Nobuo, his face flushed, said loudly: "Isn't this being controlled by others? You need to obey orders and the court."

"There are always people who doubt whether the Nagasaki Governor-General's Office has overly interfered in all aspects of the Japanese country. But what I want to say is that in the face of various challenges caused by the uneven sea, we should work together instead of going separate ways. The various decisions of the Nagasaki Governor-General's Office , is also formulated based on considerations of maritime stability.”

"Under the premise of stable maritime borders, we hope that Oda Nobunaga and various Japanese daimyo can take a positive view of the shipment of silver from the Governor's Mansion back to the Ming Dynasty."

"This is to stabilize maritime borders and provide more stable maritime trade security."

The Ming Dynasty brought treasure banknotes, and the Nagasaki Governor's Office exchanged banknotes with major names and divided the seigniorage. The Nagasaki Governor's Office did not transport the silver back to the Ming Dynasty, but stored it locally and even invested it in Kyushu Island.

Oda Nobuo half raised his head, looked at Xu Wei and whispered: "Is Governor Xu willing to be a vassal of the Ming Dynasty for the rest of his life?"

"I, Xu Wei, Hu Zongxian's staff, saw those corpses with my own eyes! I saw the dying struggle of the people of the Ming Dynasty! I saw one village after another, devastated and ruined! Men, old people, women, and children died in front of the stove , died under the tree, died in the cellar, died under the tree!”

The winter in Nagasaki is not very cold. It stays at 4 to 8 degrees above zero all year round. Although it snowed heavily a few days ago, due to the influence of ocean currents, the thin ice at the port of Nagasaki only lasted for two days before melting. .

"Dear Ambassador to the Ming Dynasty, transporting silver back to the Ming Dynasty is unacceptable to the Japanese country. I hope the Nagasaki Governor's Office can stop this behavior." Oda Nobuo said sincerely in an almost pleading tone.

Oda Nobunaga still sent his third son, Oda Nobuo, and Oda Nobuo was extremely proud of his father. Even if he became the adopted son of another family, Oda Nobuo had no dissatisfaction. He just wanted to do Something that would allow his father to see him.

This idea is a traditional idea that cooperation can benefit both sides, and the Emperor Ming Dynasty also used it in practice, such as the large sailing trade in the West, such as the special envoy of the Mughal Kingdom Shah Maimaiti, and the military parade of the Fanyi envoys. Each minister has his own seat and so on.

Wan Shihe always said that the Japanese did not understand etiquette at all. Xu Wei said that Wan Shihe was right.

Oda Nobuo elaborated on Oda Nobunaga's conditions. In short, join forces with each other to fight against the Ming Dynasty! All harvests belong to the Nagasaki Governor's Office!
Oda Nobuo wanted to impress Xu Wei with benefits and instigate Xu Wei to rebel. As long as Xu Wei led the Nagasaki Governor's Palace to rebel against the Ming Dynasty, anything could be discussed.

As soon as Oda Nobukuma arrived at the townhouse in Nagasaki Port, he heard a piece of news that frightened him. The Nagasaki Governor's Office was actively preparing to transport silver back to the Ming Dynasty!
After Nobuo Oda heard the news, cold sweat ran down his back.

"Hahaha!" Xu Wei and Sun Keyi started laughing again.

Xu Wei sat up straight, looked at Oda Nobuo, and said with a sneer: "Uncle Da Zong always said that the Japanese have small etiquette but no great righteousness. According to me, they are just like animals. There is no three-part human nature. They are very animalistic." ingrained!"

"The Ming Dynasty has put down the Japanese invasion, and the Warring States Period of Daimyo has passed. My father is spreading military power across the world. Once the Japanese country is settled, there will be no more Japanese invasion."

Sun Keyi thought for a while and added: "I advise you not to act rashly. The Songjiang Navy is in the process of pacifying the Japanese in Nagasaki."

What Oda Nobuo means is that after everything has passed, don’t hold on to the sins of the past and live in hatred. It will only blind you with hatred and make wrong decisions.

However, once the Ming Dynasty transported all the silver back to the Ming Dynasty, the treasure banknotes circulating in the Japanese country lost the important anchor of silver. This meant that the treasure banknotes circulating in the Japanese country could never be cashed. This was a big problem for everyone in the Japanese country. This is unacceptable!
Xu Wei looked at Oda Nobuo and frowned as he said, "You tried every possible means to come to see me, just to say this? Does my Nagasaki Governor's Office need Oda Nobunaga's consent to do anything?"

"You beg me? Am I going to agree?"

What does it mean to have small gifts but no great righteousness? This is the most typical case. Oda Nobuo cannot understand Xu Wei and Sun Keyi's loyalty to His Majesty and the Ming Dynasty as a whole. He also cannot understand that Xu Wei and Sun Keyi always live in hatred, knowing that those people, those poor people who died, Most of the coolies have little to do with Xu Wei and Sun Keyi.

What kind of hatred is worth Xu Wei, Sun Keyi and others giving up such huge interests of Japan?

"Well, from the perspective of the Japanese country, it often takes several months for a Japanese ship to reach the Ming Dynasty. However, there is only 1,600 miles of water distance from Nagasaki to Songjiang Prefecture. The Ming Dynasty Navy set out from Songjiang, and it used to take a month to arrive. Nagasaki, it only takes twelve days now, and the tailwind time will be shorter." Xu Wei shook his head and said. He was too lazy to talk about those big principles, and the Japanese didn't understand them. He told Oda Nobuo with facts, don't think about it, he doesn't have that foundation. .

Taking the land route from Bei Ya to Nan Ya, it also takes fifteen days to travel day and night by fast cavalry. However, it takes one and a half months for the elite soldiers of the Beijing Camp to be mobilized from Bei Ya to Nan Ya. , it only takes twelve days to counter the Ming Dynasty in Nagasaki. The Ming Dynasty can really crush it with the power of thunder, and then build a Nagasaki Governor's Palace in its place.

"Look away." Xu Wei stood up, ignored Nobuo Oda who was kneeling on the ground, and left.

After leaving, Xu Wei immediately stopped and said: "The 298 million taels of silver in the Nagasaki Governor's Palace will be put on the ship immediately and shipped back to Songjiang Prefecture. Immediately, please ask Shurihou Chen Lin to send troops to escort them to prevent accidents."

"What's wrong? Didn't you say that the starting point is 1.5 million silver?" Sun Keyi said with a solemn expression.

"I'm afraid that the Japanese will jump over the wall in a hurry." Xu Wei looked solemn, but he quickly said with relief: "It's best to jump over the wall in a hurry." Sometimes Xu Wei also had to admire Oda Nobunaga's self-restraint, which was as good as Sima Yi's. Well, when Zhuge Liang gave Sima Yi women's clothes and humiliated him into leaving the city to fight, Sima Yi refused to leave the city even after putting on women's clothes. The Nagasaki Governor's Mansion used various means to force Oda Nobunaga to attack and destroy the Nagasaki Governor's Mansion.

Oda Nobunaga was really patient. He fought with Ming Dynasty several times, but he still refused to go to the last step and did not directly attack with force.

Xu Wei prepared a large gunpowder magazine in Nagasaki and waited for Oda Nobunaga to come.

He originally planned to transport it directly to Tianjin Wei after the spring, and then go straight to the capital. Xu Wei had been away from the Ming Dynasty for a long time, and his impression of the hinterland was still the corruption-ridden Ming Dynasty. He was afraid that the money would be stolen by the local government. After all, Xu Jielian had confiscated it. Yan Song dared to embezzle his family property. What kind of money did the officials of the Ming Dynasty dare not embezzle?
But it's too late now, so we set out immediately to prevent the Japanese from jumping over the wall.

The reason why it was not transported to the Mizhou Shipping Department was because in Xu Wei's impression, Songjiang Prefecture was more loyal. Who allowed Songjiang Prefecture to have a navy in charge? Loyalty is closely related to the military. With the army at your side, no matter how disloyal you are in your heart, you still have to be loyal on the surface.

At this time, in the Imperial Palace of the Ming Dynasty and the imperial study of Emperor Zhu Yijun of the Ming Dynasty, there was Zhu Zaiyu, the dean of the Ming Dynasty Academy of Physics, a great scientist, a great musician, an astronomer, a physicist, a great mathematician, and the uncle of Emperor De Wang.

"Your Majesty, matter is in motion!" Zhu Zaiyu said loudly with an extremely excited expression: "Last time we said that because molecules have different heat levels, their states are different. We verified this conjecture. We used a vacuum The glass tube is placed upside down above the water, and by changing the surrounding temperature..."

"Okay, Uncle Emperor, you can stop now. I know that Uncle Emperor is a genius." Zhu Yijun reminded him repeatedly. Zhu Zaiyu didn't need to show off his genius side again and again. It was the heavy composition that countless people could not achieve in their lifetime. This is Zhu Zaiyu's achievement which is relatively shallow and easy to catch up with.

Recently, the Institute of Science and Technology conducted an experiment, which once again verified that any matter is composed of smaller, tiny molecules, and these tiny molecules are constantly moving. This led to a further conjecture that matter is moving, and movement is The fundamental properties and mode of existence of matter.

On this basis, the concepts of relative motion and relative stillness were born.

This experiment is somewhat complicated. Zhu Yijun has already seen it in detail, and of course it is to the point where it can be understood.

For example, Japanese silver is somewhat black, because Japanese silver contains some sulfur impurities, and refining Japanese silver into gold flower silver means removing impurities, adding lead, copper, and tin means increasing impurities, turning wrought iron into steel, which is the ratio of carbon Different, depending on the carbon content, Daming has completed a scientific definition and subdivision of steel.

"Do you need more money?" Zhu Yijun looked at Zhu Zaiyu and thought about it for a moment, then asked about his purpose.

Only when he asked for money, Zhu Zaiyu would come out of his royal palace and ask for money in a slightly clumsy way. No matter whether Zhu Zaiyu was clumsy or not, Zhu Yijun would give the money.

Just a steam engine is worth Zhu Yijun's huge investment, let alone other scientific achievements.

"At the beginning of the year, I asked your majesty for one million silver, and there were still 430,000 silver left. I don't need any silver. I just discovered the nature of the world. I came here to tell your majesty. It seems useless, but it seems to be all things. The fundamental principle." Zhu Zaiyu said with a smile.

This time, it was really not about money. Zhu Zaiyu just wanted to tell His Majesty the result of his discovery. It was a scenery that broke through the boundaries of cognition.

"Uncle Huang, I seem to have never heard Uncle Huang talk about what gewu is." Zhu Yijun said with a smile.

The word "Gewu" of the Royal Gewün Academy has never been accurately defined. Zhu Yijun plans to finalize this matter this year.

Zhu Zaiyu said with a puzzled look on his face: "Didn't His Majesty make it clear when he established the Gewuyuan?"

"Did you tell me?" Zhu Yijun also asked a little confused.

"The first thing to do is to be faithful. They are the eight characters on the wall of the screen wall of the Institute of Wushu. Your Majesty personally mentioned it and signed it with Zhu Zhongxing's monogram." Zhu Zaiyu said matter-of-factly: "The investigation of Wushu can be roughly divided into three steps. For unexplainable conjectures and mathematical demonstrations of conjectures, the demonstration and experimental verification are the same. No matter how perfect the conjecture is and how reasonable the argument is, if it does not conform to actual verification, the conjecture will be wrong and the argument will be wrong. "

"Isn't this the best portrayal of your majesty's faithfulness? This is the study of things. I led the doctors of the Five Classics to follow the holy teachings. I felt a lot. Every time I was confused, I saw these eight Words will suddenly make you enlightened.”

That shadow wall stone is known as the Enlightenment Stone. Whenever you have doubts in your heart, stand in front of the inscription and look at those words, and the confusion in your heart will slowly dissipate.

Zhu Yijun looked at Zhu Zaiyu blankly. What he meant when he wrote these eight words was the superficial meaning. The only criterion for acting is faithfulness, true and reliable practice, and don't fool people with their empty heads.

Zhu Zaiyu's understanding of these eight characters is also very deep and specific.

"Ah, it turns out that I have already defined the object." Zhu Yijun nodded, I am so powerful!
These eight characters are indeed powerful, but Zhu Zaiyu’s understanding of them is also very powerful.

Zhu Zaiyu continued: "Because it requires practice. For example, the last time Jiao Hong and I talked about the issue of whether dragons really exist, Jiao Hong asked me, do dragons really exist? I told him that we just didn't observe it, but we I can’t say that it doesn’t exist, I can only say that the possibility is very small. That’s how things work. The possibility is between zero and one. Even if it is infinitely close to zero, I can’t say that it absolutely does not exist.”

"Conjecture is actually just a possibility. Our demonstration and experiment are all to make the possibility infinitely close to one."

Zhu Yijun smiled and said: "Okay, Uncle Emperor, that's all. Why don't you get some money? I only have this. Today Prince Zheng's family is moving to Ten Kings City. Do you want to go with us?"

"Is it today?" Zhu Zaiyu was stunned for a moment. He had been thinking about this matter, but when he arrived, he forgot about it.

Zhu Zaiyu's father became particularly generous after experiencing the high-walled prison in Fengyang. In order not to affect Zhu Zaiyu, King Zheng Zhu Hounan did not even tell Zhu Zaiyu about the relocation.

In fact, King Zheng Zhu Hounan couldn't understand what his son was tinkering with, but he also knew that all the tinkering things had great uses.

Prince De and Prince Lu are both very special beings. They live around Tonghe Palace. Prince De’s Mansion, Prince Lu’s Mansion, the Royal Gemwuyuan, the Lecture Hall, and the Pagoda together constitute the Forbidden Garden. This is the core of imperial power. Anyone can Even Zhang Juzheng tried his best to avoid reaching out to this place, except for the administration of Gewuyuan, which the emperor needed to use the power of some external courts to monitor together.

"I'll come over right now," Zhu Zaiyu said quickly.

Zhu Yijun looked at Zhu Zaiyu's back and said with a smile: "Slow down, don't be in a hurry."

Zhu Zaiyu is very busy, immersed in the world of genius, but he is also a living person, with parents, a wife and children. Occasionally when he returns to reality, he will show the emotions of ordinary people.

"Did you understand what the emperor said?" Zhu Yijun looked at Feng Bao and Zhang Hong and asked.

Feng Bao and Zhang Hong looked at each other and shook their heads. They didn't understand the world of genius, but it didn't matter. As long as they were willing to understand, they would slowly understand.

Zhu Yijun picked up the memorial and began to review it. After reading the memorial sent by Xu Wei, he immediately asked: "Is Oda Nobunaga going to launch an attack? Chen Lin is in Nagasaki, is he so crazy?"

Feng Bao thought for a moment and shook his head, saying, "That's not the case. Judging from the information from all sides, Oda Nobunaga is still forbearing."

"Are you forbearing?" Zhu Yijun Zhu approved Xu Wei's memorial and asked him to retreat immediately if he could not catch it. The Ming army would tell the Japanese country that what the Ming Dynasty wanted must be given, and it would be given even if it was not given.

Songjiang Governor Shen Shixing reported that the Royal Ship Design Institute has been basically established and is divided into several departments: deck, hull, freight, navigation, inspection design, planning, etc. The main work is the planning of flat decks and hulls. Increased strength, coordination of cargo shipments, refinement of navigation skills, testing designs with scale models, astronomical and hydrological influences.

Design institutes are also research institutes, specializing in studying how to comprehensively improve the various performances of ships. For example, the Royal Ship Design Institute recently plans to continue to develop copper-clad ship hulls. Copper is very expensive, but copper-cladding brings substantial benefits to ship owners. Economy Profit.

Specifically, copper cladding can speed up the ship, make the ship stronger, prevent accidents, increase navigation safety, and extend its lifespan. With just one smooth round trip, the ship owner can recover the cost of copper cladding, and everything that comes afterward is Net profit, just like a watertight cabin, will be more expensive, but compared to the safety of the ship, this cost is not worth mentioning.

Shen Shixing also mentioned two things in his memorial. The first was that at the end of last year, he mentioned that he hoped to open up some high-risk projects in overseas investment and allocate the risks downward through trading houses. At that time, Zhu Yijun He rejected the proposal on the grounds that the time had not come yet, and Shen Shixing brought it up again.

Specifically, for example, the development of the Yuanxu Islands requires a large amount of silver, but the risk is still extremely high. The proportion of Ming Dynasty official gardens is already very high, and high-quality islands have been occupied. If the court continues to invest in in-depth development, I am afraid that the cost will not be recovered. To reduce the risk, it is better to package a certain area, put it in a trading house, and raise silver for development.

Shen Shixing's idea was very good, and it wasn't just the first time he proposed it. Zhu Yijun agreed in principle with it, but he still criticized it: the time has not come yet. When navigation technology becomes more mature, trading houses can raise silver for development and the risks of development can be further reduced.

Risks and benefits are equal, but risks are risks. Sometimes, Zhu Yijun is indeed a benevolent king. Those who are willing to take risks on the sea are supporters of the open-sea policy and fellow travelers who need protection.

The second thing Shen Shixing talked about was navigation insurance.

No matter how huge and sturdy the Ming Dynasty built its giant ships, shipwrecks continued to occur repeatedly. The return rate of Ming merchant ships exceeded 90% because offshore commerce did not involve oceans, but there were 100 ships that went to sea every year. Ten of them sank in the ocean forever.

The huge losses in maritime trade left shipowners bankrupt. Insurance was born in such an environment. However, because there are no written regulations, the development of the entire insurance industry is extremely disordered, and has even become a harbor for filth and evil. Insurance has become Shen Shixing hated this mess.

For the healthy and orderly development of the insurance industry, Shen Shixing requested an order, led by the Songjiang City Shipping Department, and jointly coordinated by the five major shipping companies and the five major ocean-going commercial banks, to establish a protection and indemnity room, with a dedicated protection and indemnity director, who was also led by the governor of Songjiang. Responsible for damage determination, liability determination, protection and indemnity, etc.

"Next chapter, the Cabinet and the Household Department." Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and did not approve it immediately. Instead, he asked the Cabinet and the Household Department to come up with their opinions. Shen Shixing's intention was good, but Zhu Yijun was more cautious about this matter.

Antwerp, a southern city in the Netherlands (Belgium), is the busiest port in the Netherlands. In Antwerp, the mileage of ship insurance is 33000 miles. When setting prices, these insurance merchants will take into account the tonnage, number of ships, Whether there are pirates on the route and many other factors, the average rate of return in the entire insurance market is roughly 2-3%, which is not too high, but not too low either.

The reason why Zhu Yijun is cautious is that insurance can easily become a rent-collecting industry, that is to say, it can easily become one of the Ming Dynasty's means of amassing money.

(End of this chapter)